Parks acquitted of most serious charges

Altercation caught on video leads to misdemeanor convictions

In a case that revolved around a few minutes of action caught on video, the defense for Josh Parks asked the jury to look deeper at his story.

That’s what they did Friday evening in finding the local restaurant owner not guilty on the most serious counts he faced.

Parks, who runs Local Hero’s Café in St. Augustine, was acquitted on all felony charges he faced: burglary with battery while armed with a firearm and aggravated assault with a firearm.

The jury of four men and two women, which deliberated about an hour, did find Parks guilty of misdemeanor assault and criminal mischief.

He will be sentenced Tuesday.

But considering there was a clear video that showed Parks trying to break down a door, knock out a window and punch a shotgun-wielding Marcos Ickes, the verdict was quite favorable to the defense.

“This is the next best thing (to a complete acquittal),” Parks said. “Justice was served today.”

The one-day trial stemmed from an altercation between former friends, Parks and Ickes, in the early-morning hours of Oct. 15, 2011.

Defense attorneys Tom Cushman and Ryan Albaugh argued that Ickes was the cause of the altercation, stealing things from Parks, hitting on his girlfriend and barging into the home of Parks to falsely accuse him of stealing his television.

They said Parks clearly didn’t intend to cause violence. If he had, Parks — calling himself a “230-pound T. rex” at one point in testimony — would have inflicted serious injury to Ickes, who Parks described as a “130-pound vegetarian.”

Ickes’ injuries were limited to a swollen eye that didn’t need medical attention.

“Intent is the heart of this case,” Cushman said in closing arguments. “I suggest if Josh Parks had wanted to do harm to Ickes, he would have done it. If the intent would have been bodily harm, he would have done it.”

Unlike most cases where jurors must rely on witness testimony to discern what took place between the accuser and defendant, Friday’s case had everything captured on a security-camera video provided by Ickes.

In the video that was played several times, Parks can be seen arriving at the residence of Ickes, bounding up the steps to the front door and giving it a ferocious kick. He then pounds the door with his shoulder.

The door never gave, but Parks can be seen shouting at Ickes through a thin window next to the door. He soon punches his fist through it.

About a minute later, Ickes is seen opening the door, leading with the barrel of a shotgun. As soon as Parks sees Ickes with the gun, he grabs it and punches the much smaller man in the face.

For a couple of seconds, the men are off the screen, and then Ickes is seen running from the house as Parks walks toward him with the gun.

The men are not seen for almost two minutes, but Ickes is soon scampering back into the house. No further violence ensues, and Parks tosses the shotgun on the front porch. Ickes is seen giving Parks pieces of a drum set that Parks testified he demanded that Ickes return.

From there, Parks is seen driving his black Camaro off the property.

Each side portrayed those events differently.

Assistant state attorney Chris Ferebee told the jury that the only reason Parks went to Ickes’ house was to settle the score in a feud between a pair who some thought were brothers at one time.

“He (Parks) went over there to enact violence on Mr. Ickes,” Ferebee said in his closing arguments. “He went there with violence on his mind.”

In his testimony, Ickes told both attorneys that he had been frightened for his life by Parks. He said Parks chased him after taking the shotgun and swung it at him during the time both men were off the video screen.

However, the video shows Ickes carrying drum kit equipment right to Parks’ car just minutes after the confrontation in which he testified that he thought Parks might shoot him.

“He chased me around,” Ickes said. “I just wanted him not to have any reason to come back to my property.”

Ickes also admitted that he had been at Parks’ house — uninvited — just minutes before Parks had come to his home. He said he had accused Parks of taking his television, saying he had received information from a person whose name he didn’t know.

“I asked if I could have the privilege of viewing his television collection,” Ickes said.

Parks said he was stunned by Ickes’ brashness at showing up at his house at such an hour and with wild accusations. He said Ickes threatened to do some damage to Local Hero’s, a place where Ickes had worked as a trusted associate for Parks.

Shortly after Ickes left, Parks said he was worried about the restaurant and wanted to make sure Ickes wasn’t there damaging or stealing things.

He testified that he saw Ickes outside his house on the way to the restaurant. Parks said he stopped and decided to retrieve some drum equipment that he knew to be his.

There was a great debate between the two sides about how angry or enraged Parks was. Parks insisted a fight was not the goal.

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